


Shemaya

by Prochytes



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Mystery, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25536160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prochytes/pseuds/Prochytes
Summary: The L. A. kids, after The Snap.
Relationships: Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru, Nico Minoru & Alex Wilder
Comments: 10
Kudos: 52





	Shemaya

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for _Marvel’s Runaways_ , to the end of S3, and _Avengers: Infinity War_. Angst, character death, and one fleeting reference to substance abuse.

It began as a gulp, low, in the back of the throat, and barely heard above the background din as all Alex’s alerts for his digital demesne continued to announce themselves together. Grief doesn’t have gears; the Hostel knew that, all too well. There was no warning when the gulp became a scream.

“Molly, put down the ’phone.” Gert’s eyes were steady behind the glasses, holding her sister’s golden, brimming gaze. She wasn’t looking at the remains of the smartphone in Molly’s hand. There were times, still, when you could know Molly – the cartoon enthusiasms, the silly hats, the whirling of joyous cartwheels in the rain - and forget that this bouncy girl might be the strongest woman resident on Earth. With tech confetti dribbling unregarded through her fingers, not so much.

“Which of your folks was it?” Alex asked quietly, as Molly dropped the remaining fragments on the floor, and Gert drew her into a hug. _Could be both_ , thought Karolina, before catching up with the calculation Wilder – still a wise-ass, even at Armageddon - had done already. One of the Yorkeses had lived to make the call.

“Dale. Dale’s gone.”

Alex winced. “I’m so sorry.”

“Not as much as some will be.” Molly stared at him over Gert’s shoulder, eyes still lambent. “Who’s gonna die for doing this?”

“Working on that.” Alex twisted in his chair. “Chase – could you tell anything about the tech from the Wakandan TV footage?”

Chase had been sitting silent, for the last ten minutes, ever since Janet flickered briefly onto one of Alex’s screens to bring the news ( _Chase, oh my baby, it’s your father…_ ). He roused himself. “Huh?”

“I hate to do this to you right now, man, but you’re the world authority on gloves that rain down hell. What could explain the mojo that the purple freak was packing?”

“It’s outside anything I’ve even heard of.” Chase clambered to his feet, and tentatively reached out to touch Gert’s shoulder. She freed one hand to squeeze his, while the other continued to caress Molly. Old Lace curled around their feet, nostrils flaring at the newly winnowed world. “The gauntlet was designed for the crystals, I think; not the other way around. You clocked how it was configured to accommodate the irregular polyhedrons? I’m guessing it’s a channelling mechanism. But as to what it could do, that looked less like tech than mag…” He stopped. “Has anyone seen Nico?”

“I think… I think she was in her bedroom, when Wilder called us.” Karolina swallowed against the panic stirring in her gut. “The light of the Staff was spilling under the door, as I ran past. But if the alarm had already been raised when I saw that, surely she’s…”

“I’m here.” Nico marched into the room. “What in the name of the Goddess is happening?”

Karolina breathed again. “What kept you?”

“Took me a while to make it back from my meditation. I was in deep, and then it all got… dark. Like Gaea was screaming. What’s going on?”

“Alderaan,” Alex said. “That’s what’s going on. Welcome to the end of the freaking world.”

“Seriously?” Nico’s eyes travelled across the monitors. “Aren’t the Avengers meant to handle stuff like that?”

“They fumbled the pass,” said Chase.

***

The Internet was burning. Alex’s servers and connexions were designed to be robust, but he couldn’t do anything about the state of everyone else’s. It was hours before the Hostel re-established contact with Janet. It was hours more before they knew, for sure, that Nico was an orphan.

“There was a school ’bus,” said Alex. “Reports are scrappy; I couldn’t dig up footage.”

“Just tell me what you can,” said Nico.

“It looks like the driver didn’t make it, although most of the children did. The ’bus started to climb the sidewalk. Tina was on the other side of the road – I don’t know why…”

“At that time of day, she’d have been out jogging. My mom is… my mom was a creature of habit.”

“The bystanders didn’t know what they were seeing. They had a bunch of other stuff to occupy their attention. But I think that Tina must have cast a spell. Geometric patterns and symbols danced around the ’bus. It ground to a halt, before there were any… before there were any _more_ casualties. Tina collapsed…”

“Manipulation of the base elements, without the Staff to mitigate the strain. The cost of that could have killed her by itself.”

“A passing nurse ran over to help. But Tina…” Alex paused. Karolina understood his hesitation. There wasn’t a vocabulary for any of this. “… Tina was gone.”

“Like Dale. And Victor.” Nico looked up. “You’re the data guy. Is there any logic to who died and who didn’t?”

Alex grimaced. “None that I can see. What’s left of the ’Net is loud and paranoid on the topic…”

“Colour me shocked,” said Karolina.

“But, in all honesty, to me, it just looks random. According to preliminary reports, about fifty percent of life on Earth has ended. There doesn’t seem to be any more shape to it than that.”

“Everyone in the Hostel made it,” said Karolina. “Old Lace, too. What are the odds?”

Alex stared into space, and bit his lip.

***

The Wilders, father and son, spent most of the next day sequestered together, planning. Where catastrophe presented a smooth, blank face to most, Geoffrey and Alex saw the contours: supply-lines, fall-backs, contingencies, ways to help. It took Doomsday to show, Karolina thought, that logistics really was a superpower.

Karolina was loathe to leave Nico’s side. She had spoken little, since the news about Tina, and Karolina knew that she had not slept. But, when Leslie asked for her daughter’s help at the Church, Nico was insistent that Karolina should go, while she used the day to meditate, and rest.

She did not seem any more rested, when Karolina returned. Usually, Nico’s mien, her Staff, and her own tendency to forget her stature, made it easy not to notice how small she was. Today, Nico looked bird-like, and frail. She sat impassive through Karolina’s expressions of concern, before asking how Leslie was faring at the compound.

“It’s tough,” said Karolina, “but they’re getting by. Gibborim never said much about the end of the world – even under Jonah, when that was actually its deal. Not having a real road-map for the Last Days makes you more agile when the Last Days loom into view unannounced. Leslie’s ramping up the soup kitchens.”

“There must be a lot of broken people out there, right now,” said Nico.

“Yeah. Some of them close to home. I ran into Tandy Bowen, coming back – she’s downstairs. She’d been trying to find us, since… since what happened, but that took a while. Tandy’s out of practice at travelling anyplace the conventional way.”

“Tyrone’s gone?”

“Yeah, and Tandy’s a mess. She’s afraid that she might start using again, to get through this. Is there anything you could do to help with that?”

“ _Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow_?” Nico shook her head. “That kind of mental manipulation isn’t Wicca. Besides, I haven’t been able to put a spell together since yesterday.”

“I was wondering why I hadn’t seen the Staff.”

“What happened must have thrown the Subtle Realms out of alignment. I’ll keep on trying. Maybe your light could help Tandy hold on to hers?”

“Is that a metaphor?”

“I’ll plead the Fifth on that.”

Karolina smiled. “Not a bad plan. I’ll see what I can do.” She rose, and kissed Nico on the forehead. “Get some rest.”

***

Another day, and still Nico had not slept. Karolina wondered whether to suggest calling a doctor – and if so, what kind.

Deciding to bury worry beneath good works, she joined Molly and Chase in helping out around L. A.. The apocalypse had not been tidy. There was ample opportunity for the fistigons, (discreet) super-strength, and (even more discreet) flight to make a difference.

Karolina regained the foyer of the Hostel a little before the others. From the floor above, there descended the murmur of a muted conversation. Karolina crept up the stairs to investigate.

“You need to say something.” Alex’s voice was urgent. “They have the right to hear it.”

Nico’s tones were low, exhausted. “I don’t know how I can.”

“I’ll back your play, whatever you choose to do. But think about what I’ve said, OK?”

“I will. Thank you.” A pause. “I love you, Wilder.”

“I love you too, Shemaya.”

Karolina coughed pointedly. “Should I be jealous, here?”

Nico and Alex jumped. Both looked guilty, but not, to Karolina’s relief, in a _flagrante delicto_ kind of way. Alex exhaled. “Nico and I were just renewing our Platonic life-partner vows. All this shit’s brought into focus how quickly what you care about can be taken away. Hope you only caught the tail-end of that, Karolina. It was pretty sappy.”

“Real men aren’t afraid of their emotions, Wilder,” said Karolina sweetly.

“Copy that.” Alex headed past Karolina down the staircase.

“So, what is it that ‘they’ deserve to hear?” Karolina asked, once Alex had disappeared into the dining-room.

“Huh? Oh – that.” Nico was leaning, in a faux-casual way, against the balcony rail. Karolina really, really hoped that this wasn’t because she lacked the strength to stand without it. “Wilder thinks I should say the eulogy at my mom’s memorial service. But I don’t see how I honestly can. We’d have been sunk without Tina against Morgan le Fey. She loved me, and Amy, and our dad. Her last act, when she was dying, was to save that ’bus. But before that, she murdered all those kids. How can I possibly make sense of that?”

“Has Chase told you yet how Victor died?”

“No; he hasn’t.”

“According to Janet, Victor got a bit of a heads-up, via some old Ministry of Defense contacts, that the alien ass-hole was incoming. Mr. and Mrs. Stein spent the last hour of Victor’s life trying to build, and, apparently, I’m quoting Janet here, ‘the best and biggest gun there ever was, to shoot that purple motherfucker in the face.’”

“Heh. Victor died doing what he loved.”

“I think that the authentic apocalypse freaks Chase out less than hearing his mom use curse-words.” Karolina stretched against a pillar. “Dale was in his kitchen, fixing up Stacey late whole grain breakfast in bed. Gert’s parents were never very good at being supervillains. I guess the point I’m making is this: our folks did good; and they did bad; and they did the kind of standard grown-up beige that’s so dull it makes your teeth ache; and none of those things invalidates the rest. They were hypocrites, and killers, and they were trying at the end to turn it around. All of that needs saying. So you should say it.”

Nico was silent for a long moment. Then she sighed, and kissed Karolina on the lips.

“Thank you. For everything.”

“Nico, I’ve been giving you space to grieve, but you look like hell. Will you at least consider getting some help? Please?”

Nico nodded. “I’ll think on it. For the moment, though, I’ll just try to rest.”

Nico shuffled into the bedroom, and closed the door. Karolina stood for a while with her hands on the balcony rail.

Then she went downstairs; pulled out her smartphone; and Googled a name.

***

It was a couple of hours, before Karolina returned to the bedroom. Several seconds elapsed, between her knocking on the door and it being opened. Nico blinked up blearily into her face.

“You’ve been crying,” said Karolina, as she slipped in, and the two sat on the bed.

“Yeah. I have.”

“Nico… we know. We all know.”

Nico stiffened. “Wilder gave me his word he wouldn’t say.”

“Alex kept your secret. I guessed it myself, just now. When did he?”

“The same day it happened. Plans are Wilder’s jam. Even when they aren’t his, he smells them cooking.” Nico blinked. “What tipped you off? Was it the odds?”

“Partly that. They were hard to ignore, once I sat down this evening and worked them out. From what we’ve seen in the last couple of days, fifty percent of life on Earth is gone. Six of our parents were left – apart from Janet, who’s a special case. Three died; three were spared. Cloak didn’t make it; Dagger did. But, if we include Old Lace, as, of course, we should, all seven residents of the Hostel are still alive. The chances of that are…”

“One in one hundred twenty-eight, according to Wilder,” said Nico.

“He’s the anti-Solo; he always has to know the odds.”

Nico made the noise in her throat, somewhere between a chuckle and a snarl, that Karolina loved above any other sound she had ever heard. “But it wasn’t just the odds.”

“No. It was the name I heard Alex call you. ‘Shemaya.’”

“I didn’t think that you’d know what that name meant.”

“I didn’t. But the Internet still provides. The first hits were all Old Testament, which didn’t seem very Wilder. But then I remembered that cheesy RPG the two of you used to argue over when we were kids…”

“Yeah.” A ghost of a smile touched Nico’s lips. “That one was old-school, even when we played it. The spell system wasn’t realistic.”

“… so I narrowed the search to that. Which is how I found the story of Shemaya. There’s this magic kingdom, but its king goes mad.”

“That’s a known issue with magic kingdoms.”

“The king asks a dark god to give him the power to order the kingdom as he sees fit. The dark god answers. He gives the king a crown, which he says will bring the balance the king desires. But the only balance the gift brings is destruction. As soon as the king puts on the crown, a curse descends upon him, and all his subjects.”

“Genocide wearables,” said Nico. “Very now.”

“But one of the king’s subjects is a sorceress, called Shemaya. This witch is powerful, and angry as hell. She won’t see what she loves lost without a fight. Shemaya casts a spell, and drags her tower and everyone in it out of sync with the world. While the spell lasts, the curse of the crown can’t touch them.”

Karolina bit her lip. “When I read that, I put everything together. Why you took so long to join us when we watching the news from Wakanda. Why you haven’t let anyone look at the Staff since then. Why you’re more exhausted every time I see you. Even why you weren’t able to help Tandy.”

Nico sighed. “What I said about Wiccan ethics wasn’t a lie.”

“I know. But there’s another reason you couldn’t cast a spell to help her.” Karolina rose, and opened the wardrobe. Into the chamber, the Staff of One spilled its light. “The reason is that you’re casting one already.”

***

Nico needed the support of Karolina on one side, and the Staff on the other, to make it down the stairs. In the foyer below, her friends were waiting.

“Nico, I swear I didn’t…”

“It’s OK, Wilder,” Nico settled awkwardly on the penultimate stair. “Karolina’s already told me the score. You were all going to figure it out, eventually. I’m the one who should apologize, for keeping you in the dark.”

“No apology necessary,” said Gert, ruffling Old Lace’s ears. “In the list of the dumbest things our families have done for those they love, recklessly _prolonging_ life doesn’t make the Top Ten.”

“What happens now?” asked Chase.

Nico straightened her back. “I hang on.”

“Not acceptable,” said Gert.

“You don’t understand.” Nico leaned back against the step. “I didn’t realize exactly what we were facing when I felt that the Hostel was coming under assault, but I did sense this: the Staff can’t cancel an apocalypse, only pause one. If I release my spell, what happened everywhere else, will happen here.”

“We get that,” said Gert. “But, Nico, we don’t have to be sorcerers to see that the strain of keeping this spell up will end you.”

There was something of Nico’s old fire in her glare. “You wanna guess how long I can last with this much on the line?”

“I would never bet against you, Nico Minoru.” Old Lace whined, low in her throat. “But, like Karolina said in the Dark Dimension, you’re bearing a terrible burden alone, and it’s breaking you. You _may_ die, if you let go. You _will_ die, if you don’t. The chance of your surviving is a gamble all of us want to make. Even if..." Gert's voice cracked for a moment, before she resumed, "... even if that means that some of us die today, and not tomorrow.”

“Hear hear,” said Chase. “Not just a couple bloc-vote, by the way.”

Nico slumped. “I can’t talk any of you out of it?”

“No,” said Molly, her arms around her knees. “I don’t wanna die. But I couldn’t live with myself, if I hadn’t tried to save you first.”

Nico gripped the Staff and tottered to her feet. She turned to Karolina. “Kiss me, and I’d like… I’d like you to shine. Wilder will tell you: it’s three-to-one that these eyes won’t see you sparkle again.”

Karolina smiled through her tears. Light painted the two, as she folded Nico in her arms – the lush palette of a younger world.

“We had a good run, didn’t we?” said Chase, as Gert nestled in his shoulder.

“Yeah,” said Nico. “We did.”

The Staff of One winked out, amidst the rise of dust.

FINIS

**Author's Note:**

> The story of Shemaya (or Shemeya - both spellings are used in the original sourcebook) is first told in the 2nd Edition _AD &D_ supplement _Rary the Traitor_ , by Anthony Pryor, p30. Nico also quotes a line from _Macbeth_ Act 5 Scene 3.


End file.
